Day At the Beach

“We had just finished up a family reunion in California and decided to do some family pictures on the final day. Before this photo was taken, we had just spent time getting about 18 people (many of whom were kids) to pose for a large family picture. Those with young ‘uns can attest that sitting still and smiling for the camera are like torture to a 4 year old, so by the time we had finished with the large family we had used up all of my 4 year old’s good graces and he was in a sour mood.

So we attempt to take pictures of just our family and things are going south quickly. Both kids are crying and we are pulling our hair out trying to get one good picture because we’re a happy family dangit and we’re all in coordinating colors that have been meticulously chosen and fretted over. Someone had the idea to do a “candid” photo of us swinging our kids to hopefully raise our kids’ spirit and relieve some of our stress by flinging our kids around.

First couple of shots go fine. As we wind up for the final one I notice something out of the corner of my eye. E (the baby) is at a weird angle and my wife is yelling “GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” instead of the usual “Wheeeeeee!” So I know something’s about to go down.

I watch my son gracefully do a full backwards layout and land flat on his back in the sand. He’s stunned for a moment, cries for a minute, but after about 2 minutes of sniffling he’s back to his regular self, smiling and laughing.”

(submitted by Liz Hansen Photography)

The family visiting their photo at the AFP Exhibition in Santa Monica, CA.